Des Moines Iowa — Both South O’Brien and Western Christian have made it to the semifinals of the Iowa boy’s State Basketball Tournament. The Wolverines meet Gladbrook Reinbeck in a 1A semi with coverage begining at noon for a 12:15 opening tip. Later in the afternoon Western squares off against Anamosa with pregame at 3:30 and opening tip at 3:45. We’ll bring you the broadcast of both games on KIWA FM 105.3 and stream from the website at www.kiwaradio.com.
Stifling defense by South O’Brien held Grand View Christian’s top ranked offense to less than half of their season average in a 46-32 quarterfinal win at the Class 1A boys basketball tournament Monday in Des Moines. Grand View had averaged 80.6 points per game coming into the State Tournament.
At the end of the first quarter Grand View led 12-11. At the half South O’Brien had pulled in front 18-15. By the end of the third quarter the lead was up to 34-23 with the Wolverines going on to win it 46-32. Cameron Maxwell led the Wolverines with 19 points as the games top scorer. He was joined in double figures by Damon Struve with 10. Stephen Glenn led Grand View Christian with 9 points.
Another factor in the game was the free throw line where South O’Brien went 10-of-19 while Grand View Christian did not shoot a free throw in the contest.With the win South O’Brien the #7 seed advanced to the semifinals with a record of 23-3.
South O’Brien will meet #3 seed Gladbrook Reinbeck who defeated #6 seed Jesup 67-48 in the quarterfinals Monday. In that game Gladbrook Reinbeck trailed 25-21 at the half before outscoring Jesup 24-9 in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter they pushed to lead to as much as 20 points as they went on to the win 67-48.
Gladbrook Reinbeck was led by Joe Smoldt with 35 points incuding a 12-for-13 performance at the free throw line and 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. Tyler Eiffer hit for 11 points with Josh Cooley adding 10 points.
Pregame for the 1A semifinal comes your way at noon with the opening tip at 12:15.
The 2A semi between (23-2) Western Christian the #2 seed and Anamosa is set to tip off at 3:45 Thursday afternoon. Jesse Jansma hit a jumper for the first points of the ball game and Western Christian never trailed on route to a 56-42 win over Kuemper Catholic in their 2A quarterfnal game on Tuesday.
Western took a 13-11 first quarter lead and pushed that to a 27-19 halftime advantage. A Joey Horstman three with :04 seconds left in the third quarter put the Wolfpack up 42-34 going into the fourth quarter. Western would go on to win it 56-42.
Jesse Jansma led the offense with 14 points followed by Josh Van Lingen and Dustin Marra with 12 points each. Both had double-doubles as Van Lingen pulled down 14 rebounds while Marra had a dozen boards.
Kuemper had one player in double figures as Matt Dentlinger hit for 12 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for a double-double of his own. With the win Western improved to 23-2 on the year. The Knights ended the year at 18-7.
Defense and rebounding helped Western Christian advance in class 2A. Despite shooting only 40 percent for the game the Wolfpack never trailed in their 56-42 win over Carroll Kuemper.
(21-5) Anamosa the #6 seed upset #3 seed Des Moines Christian 74-60 to advance to the semifinal round Monday. Anamosa opened a 20-4 first quarter lead and never looked back. Anamosa had four players in double figures led by Tyler Zumbach with 19 points. Kyle Schepanski had 18. Also in double figures were Kolin Schulte with 14 and Kyle Sayre with 12.
Pregame for the 2A semifinal comes your way at 3:30 with opening tip scheduled for 3:45.
